Friday, October 19, 2012

I'd tell you who suggested this weeks topic but I can't. It's a secret.

We all have secrets of our own, secrets shared with us by others and I'd wager a bet we all expose some secrets.

Families keep secrets. Some hide their true dysfunction from the world as they put on the face of the happy, perfect family. My family tends to wear its dysfunction like some odd badge of honor. Look at us - we are dysfunctional. But we are still a family. You can't take that away from us.

So what's a secret? It can be any old thing. A closeted relative in a homophobic society. A genetic anomally in another. Knowledge of a deed not meant to be publicized - for whatever reason.

The question becomes are secrets valuable? Are they a good thing?

Like most things the answer lies somewhere in the middle. For example, I kept Lynn's HD a secret for years. Not really sure why - it just wasn't discussed. Now that cat's out of the bag. And of course governments have secrets. Things about which we common folk are best left ignorant. Or so the powers that be decree. Who really wants to know how many attacks were blunted, how many nuclear missles the bad guys have - I mean wouldn't you be more terrified knowing they could kill us 100 times, not just 50??? Or the secrets about the lies they've told? (for our own good of course - ahem)

Big secrets in my life? Well - how about information about the guy that is responsible for half of my genetic makeup. His name was Paul Wesley Brooke. Apparently the guy was so bad his family is trying to remove his existance/memory by ignoring him away. They refuse to speak to me - I am after all his seed so I guess I am evil as well. Maybe they're right. Time will tell - and as the drain is being circled it will be told sooner rather than later.

Secret loves? Anyone have one? Songs about secrets? There're a gazillion of those - here's one of my faves. Know what its secret is??? It has one.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Reality bites. Hollywood made a movie that says so (1994 directed by Ben Stiller) and Hollywood doesn't lie. I'll pause a bit here to allow y'all to clean your screens or pick your self up off of the floor. I truly hope nobody injured themself laughing.

My point is really quite simple. There are beginnings -

And there are endings. As painful or embarassing as they can be, we need to accept the endings. And move on. Respect the past for what it was, try not to repeat the mistakes - but keep moving.

I realize this may seem somewhat simplistic but frankly so is the notion of acceptance. Do everything in your power to get your desired result in any circumstance but when the time comes - accept reality. Go down kicking and screaming if you must but accept reality. And of course it's a blinding flash of the obvious that occasionally some herculean efforts generate results that defy the odds. Maybe you'll get lucky.

On a personal level, we all have traits that identify and describe us. Me? I'm a multi-X in front of the L certified smart ass. I've accepted the fact that skinny and handsome are never gonna be traits ascribed to my overly verbose self. Saves me an enormous amount of mirror time. But like the Beatles said, I'm a clean old man. A mouthy but clean old man.

At the end of the day - with any luck at all, we can all be in this place more often than not - and that is my wish for us all...

Friday, October 5, 2012

It will come as no surprise to those of you that know me that when I thought of this topic I was thinking of Lynn and her HD. Having it actually become a topic for discussion caused me to ponder the notion beyond that single event.

Essentially life is full of speed bumps. Nothing remains quite the same. Dealing with those speed bumps is the meat and potatoes (hmm - tofu & veggies ramana?) of the story that is our life. Everyone has dreams. Some are even lucky enough to live those dreams. The HS jock made it all the way to the show. He scored the winning goal, hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth in the seventh game of the World Series, wrote a blockbuster novel, broke a life-changing story. Or not. He met a girl along the way, they have 2 kids and 5 grandkids, or he gave up his scholarship, got married and started a different life. He became a copywriter, she became a nurse and is living out her dream with him. Fate? Randomness? Or just stuff. Stuff as in life.

life is after all what you make it. Or make of it.

So keep on dealing with those changes and speed bumps. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and moving forward - taking the occasional sidestep or backstep as is necessary. But keep moving.

Music man - as Paul says - has only one song to offer today. It's from one of the most successful singers and songwriters on the planet - more popular today than ever and no hit records in decades. He got it right....

And what the hell - when life gives you lemons, the speedbumps are high, the changes fast and furious Jimmy offered another reasonable solution - so here's a second offering. I lied -this is a blogger speedbump -